Society handles increased dog drop-offs

Thanks to volunteers who stepped up to help, the Humane Society of the South Platte Valley dealt with a major increase in dogs brought to the shelter the last week of April.

“The Denver Dumb Friends League’s Quebec Animal Shelter had an outbreak of pneumonia and, as of April 20, were no longer accepting or arranging adoptions of dogs,” said Leslie Marsonneuve, South Platte director. “The result was an increase in dogs brought to our shelter. We had taken in 17 dogs dropped off the first three weeks of April and we had 25 dogs brought in during the week of April 20-28.”

The suspension in Denver is expected to last 30 days.

Marsonneuve said the large increase in dog numbers strained society resource to maintain the shelter and care for the animals, and it also triggered a request to society supporters and volunteers for help.

“The response was outstanding. We had folks volunteer to provide foster care for some of our dogs, plus we had people step up to help exercise our dogs and clean the shelter,” Marsonneuve said. “Also, we did a remote adoption project and had 20 dogs adopted. We are now in pretty good shape to deal with any increased dog drop-offs that might happen until the Quebec shelter reopens toward the end of May.”

The director noted the humane society is making efforts to broaden its service to the community by hiring a trainer who is planning to start dog training classes to the public in early June.

“We also have made changes in order to improve the services provided by our spay-neuter clinic,” she said. “Right now, we offer spay and neuter services twice a week. The cost is $45 for cats and $85 for dogs, which is less than the vast majority of low-cost clinics in the metro area.”

The clinic is open Tuesdays and Thursdays and accepts about 15 animals a day. The animal is dropped off by 7:30 a.m. and can be picked up between 3:30 and 4:30 p.m. Marsonneuve said efforts are underway to add a clinic on Wednesday.

The Humane Society of the South Platte Valley is located at 2129 W. Chenango Ave. in Littleton. The society operates the animal shelter for individual pet owners as well as stray animals brought in by animal control officers from several jurisdictions. For information on the shelter and its services, call 303-703-3938.